UK fraud office looking into Ghana Telecoms sale

04 Nov 2009 07:51 (South Africa)

Britain’s Serious Fraud Office says it is dealing with allegations of possible fraud in cellular giant Vodafone’s purchase of a 70% stake in Ghana Telecoms. Vodafone is also looking into the allegations, but was confident the transaction was conducted to the highest standards of corporate governance. The company paid $900 million for its stake in the state telecom in August 2008, but a report commissioned by Ghana’s government says Ghana didn’t get proper value for the $267 million it received from the sale. The SFO hasn’t opened an official investigation into the deal, and has not contacted the Ghanaian government. This sort of complaint takes time to manifest itself, and for now it remains just allegation.
Read more: Bloomberg